


I’ve Known You for a Lifetime

by Azuwrite



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bullying, Childhood Friends, Elementary School, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Growing Old Together, High School, Middle School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 12:02:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15640356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azuwrite/pseuds/Azuwrite
Summary: This story was inspired by a prompt event held by The Writing Den discoard channel. The fic follows Ben and Rey as they maneuver through their lives together. I plan on the chapters being on the short side, as there will be 35 chapters.





	I’ve Known You for a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> I try to limit my warnings and tags; I would like to avoid spoiling anything for readers. This fic is on the lighter side, but will contain peer pressure, bullying, some angst, and eventual sexually explicit content (aye, we all do it).

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Chapter One: I Refuse

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[](https://ibb.co/d0OSrU)

 

The playground was flooded with joyous cheers and the smell of freshly washed ‘back-to-school’ clothes. Kids struggled to get themselves higher on the swing set, squealed with delight as they chased each other around the grassy field, and huddled into groups to show off their toys. All of the children were having a blast, except one, that child was Rey.

 

Rey leaned against the chain-link fence, ignoring the morning dew that dripped onto her backpack as she watched the other kids playing. They were so carefree and she wishes to share in such ignorant bliss, but she didn’t know any of these kids, she didn’t have any friends. She lived a lonely life in a home she shared with her alcoholic foster father, Unkar Plutt.

 

Plutt wasn’t a responsible adult and certainly didn’t know how to properly care for a child, Rey assumes he has her around to act as his personal slave, fetching him beers, giving money to those he owes, and stealing whatever he asks her to. She hated living with him and being forced into such a life, but she tried to be thankful for the roof over her head.

 

He was such a failure as a parent that when Rey opened her backpack to find a sack lunch, she was more than shocked. She pulled open the brown sack with a crinkle, peering inside to see what was within. An excited smile made its way onto her face as she pulled out her haul: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a brownie, a string cheese, a baggie of carrots, and Gatorade. Maybe Plutt wasn’t so bad?

 

Rey’s celebration was cut short as a shadow of unknown origin blanketed over her. The sudden darkness took her by surprise as she glances to her right in search of the source, what she saw first was a pair of the coolest Star Wars light-up sneakers she had ever seen. Her gaze traveled up the black denim jeans and Jurassic Park t-shirt to the pale face of a boy her age.

 

The boy was tall, well, taller than her at least. He had short black hair that stopped just above a set of giant ears, but Rey didn’t spend too much time looking at them, in fear of offending the kid with the cool clothes that were decorated in her favorite things. She felt a twinkle of hope that they could be friends. She looked behind the boy, where another stood with tan skin and a curly mop of fluffy black hair.

 

“Hi…my name’s Rey,” she tried her hardest to be social because she swore to herself that she would make a friend by the end of this day!

 

A smile cracked on the boys lip, but Rey felt uneasy watching it appear. It wasn’t a friendly smile, it was an illusion to hide sinister intent. Feeling the need to get away, she rose to her feet, scrambling to get her lunch into her sack.

 

“Hold up!” The boy belted, causing Rey to freeze in her tracks.

 

Her body quaked as she looked up to meet the boy’s eyes, still filled with mischief. She watched they boy behind him, expecting no help from him, but was met with similar nervousness and twitchy movements. Rey looked back at the boy before her, awaiting his harsh words, but they never came as he bent over and picked up her Gatorade.

 

“Thanks for the drink, kid!” The boy chuckled out, turning away and tossing the beverage up and down in his hands.

 

Rey could feel her nose wrinkle in frustration, she knew she had to stand up for herself. She watched as the space between her and the two boys grew, leaving little time to act.

 

“Hey!” She yelled out, the boy turned back, his eyes tearing a hole through her. “You…you can’t take that, it’s mine!” She hated that it came out weaker than she had intended it to.

 

The boy scoffed in response before speaking, “Well, it’s mine now!” He continued on his way, shaking his head.

 

He was belittling her and Rey wasn’t having any of it. Her body filled with an intense rage, heart racing, fists clenched, and teeth grinding together. Rey was not weak and she would not let him get away with this.

 

“I hate you, you big-eared freak!” She belted out, face a vibrant red, and her body trembling with adrenaline.

 

She witnessed the boy stop in place, unmoving for what seemed like eternity before she saw his body shaking like hers had. It hit her that she had done something she instantly regretted, stooping to his level. To her, the moment of anger was over and was replaced with a deep seeded guilt. He finally moved, catching her attention.

 

The boy spun around once more, stomping in her direction. The boy’s friend grabbed onto his arm, worry in his eyes, “Don’t! It’s no big deal!” The boy tried to stop his friend, but failed.

 

The big-eared boy pulled his arm free of his friend and made his way to Rey, his chest heaving with fury and his eyes filled with resentment. With speed that caused Rey to step back with surprise, the boy yanked the sack lunch from her arms, the rough sounds of it crumpling in his tightly-wound fists. He glared down at her as she shrunk to his intimidating stance, a mere pest in the home of a ferocious feline.

 

“I’ll be taking the rest of your lunch now,” He spoke, his voice level, but his words filled with venom. “Don’t get in my way again!” He threatened, shoving her to the ground before turning tail and disappearing from view.

 

Rey let herself shake on the ground a moment, her hands and knees bleeding from the gravel, her breathing quick and erratic, and her belongings spilt upon the earth. She felt the familiar sting of tears welling in her eyes, but shook her head defiantly, that boy wasn’t worthy of her tears. So, she rose to her feet, dusting off her knees, picking up her belongings, and trudging further into the playground.

 

Suddenly, Rey was stopped by a teacher on recess duty, a big obnoxiously friendly smile on her face.

 

“Hi, dear! Do you need help making friends? I know a group of girls who are very friendly, follow me!” The lady began walking and Rey figured she didn’t really have a choice in the matter, so she followed.

 

They came upon three girls standing by the boxes etched onto the ground for four-square. “I have known these three young ladies all their lives! I’m sure you’ll fit in perfectly with their little group,” The teacher spoke hopefully, “Now you guys have fun!” And just like that the teacher was gone, probably to meddle in someone else’s business.

 

Rey could have sworn the sun hid behind the clouds the very moment she looked upon the three girls she was just introduced to, but despite that, Rey offered them a nervous, yet polite smile. The girls did not offer her the same, they just watched her, as though there wasn’t a thing going on upstairs. The more time they stared at each other, the more Rey realized how creepy they were.

 

They all had matching brown hair that seemed wet from showering that morning, falling down into their expressionless faces. It was strange, they were like different stages of the same human, one was mousey and very short, the tallest one was pudgy with wide features, and the one in the middle was average in every way possible. After another long stretch of painful silence, they walked away, without a word.

 

Boy, that was weird, Rey thought as she let out a long sigh.

 

The space the three girls had taken up was quickly replaced by that of another person. Rey almost dreaded the idea of interacting with another person this morning, but she still turned to face the person. She was met with the bright eyes of another little girl with black hair pulled into pigtails.

 

“Hi, my name’s Rose Tico! I don’t know anybody and I saw you alone, so I thought we could be friends!” Her voice spoke the words with so much positivity and joy.

 

The girl smiled, it was all teeth and big rosy cheeks. How appropriate, given her name. Rey couldn’t believe this was happening, a normal kid was speaking to her. It was like she was trapped in some kind of weird alternate dimension this whole morning. Rey returned the smile and gave a light nod in response.

 

“Hi, I’m Rey. Who’s your teacher?” She asked the happy little girl.

 

“Ms. Holdo is my teacher, how about you?” The girl asked, clenching her eyes shut and crossing her fingers, hoping they were in the same class.

 

Rey felt a big grin spread across her face, “Me too!” She responded.

 

The two girls celebrated in shrill screams and hugs, already becoming fast friends. The two girls spent the rest of recess talking about the things they liked, and Rose talked about how cool her older sister was, until the bell rang and the girls skipped to class, hand in hand.

* * *

 

When Rey entered her classroom, it was like she had walked into a dream land, where the alphabet was strewn across the walls, rainbow cubbies held their things, and rainbow desks and chairs filled the room with cheery feelings. The kids lined up against the wall, as the teacher asked them to while she looked through a list on her translucent purple clipboard.

 

“Alright you guys, I think you all need a partner!” Ms. Holdo spoke, her voice as sweet as sugar.

 

Rey and Rose clung to each other, well aware that they were already with the person they chose. The students began to pair off, only to be met with an apologetic smile from the teacher.

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry class. I actually have a seating chart and have paired you all up already.” The teacher mouthed another ‘sorry’ before speaking again, “Okay, I’m going to start listing off the pairs now…”

 

Rey took her focus off the teacher a moment to give Rose a disappointed smile. “We always have recess,” she tried to comfort the girl, but Rose seemed to be taking it well, the outgoing girl she was.

 

The seats available seats started to dwindle before Rey heard her name, “Ben Solo and Rey…” the teacher was cut off as Rey saw her ‘partner’ step forward.

 

Her partner was the boy from this morning, the boy that bullied her and took her lunch! This day could not get worse at this point.

 

“You are Ben Solo? No way. I refuse.” Rey spoke out boldly, crossing her arms and raising her nose to the boy she now knew as Ben. The boy rolled his eyes in response, clearly agreeing with her.

 

The teacher looked upon them with a disappointed stare before speaking up, “Well, it’s not up for discussion. You two are partners for the year, now take your seats,” Ms. Holdo spoke with a hint of authority to her voice.

 

Rey felt her body slump in defeat as she made her way to a side-by-side set of purple desks and chairs, plopping herself down into one. The boy looked equally as beaten and annoyed, burying his face into the hand propping it up.

 

“This is just great.” Rey muttered, organizing her things in the cubby under the top of her desk.

 

“Hey, you aren’t the only one who’s bummed about it,” he grumbled, “Now I’m stuck with the poor kid.”

 

The words struck Rey profoundly, a feeling of being a deficient nobody taking hold deep in her gut. The ever-present desire to cry boiled up to the surface once more, but she reined back the tears. She looked down at her clothes, the sad truth of her obvious lifestyle stared back at her.

 

“That’s easy to say, coming from a rich kid.” Rey assumed he was rich based on his clothing, but she felt she had made a safe bet.

 

Unfortunately, her words were wobbly with sorrow and she could feel that the boy had caught onto it as his relentless gaze burned into her.

 

“There’s more to a person than being rich, y’know.” He mumbled, scratching his head anxiously.

 

Was that guilt in his voice?

 

“There’s more to a person than being poor,” Rey countered and, to her surprise, he gave a slight smile, clearly enjoying her spunk.

 

The two sat in silence for a moment, reflecting on the brief history of their short relationship. They were going to be spending every day together for the whole school year, she had to make this work.

 

Before she could speak up, Ben did, “I’m sorry I stole your lunch…I haven’t eaten it, so you can have it back…well…I ate the brownie…it was really good.” He looked at her with a guilty smile and she was pretty sure he wasn’t sorry about the brownie part.

 

She giggled, “Thanks, I made them.” She began to fidget with the sleeve of her shirt before continuing, “I’m sorry I made fun of your ears, I rather like them.”

 

She felt bold as she reached over and poked at them, giggling away as he tried to block her pokes with his arms. He laughed along with her, both missing the smile they were receiving from Ms. Holdo from behind her desk.

 

“Alright, cut it out!” He chuckled, his face turning a bright pink. Nobody had ever liked his ears before, he definitely didn’t expect that. “I like your shoes by the way…don’t tell anybody, but I love the Power Puff Girls.”

 

Rey laughed at the thought, as cute as it was. Those shoes were the nicest and newest article of clothing she owned, she was rather proud of them. She gave Ben an assuring finger over her lips, letting out a quiet ‘shhh’ sound, as a means to affirm her not telling a soul his dark secret.

 

As the class wore on, Rey noticed Ben’s Pokémon binder, her eyes lit up with excitement.

 

“You like Pokémon too? It’s my favorite!” Rey squealed out, taking the boy by surprise before a smile appeared on his face.

 

“Of course! Pokémon is the best! What’s your favorite starter?” He asked, expecting it to be Squirtle.

 

Rey looked nervous to tell him, but she would be honest, “Bulbasaur,” she muttered, looking away from his judging eyes.

 

He tried to keep his laugh quiet, but laugh he did. “Bulbasaur? Seriously?” He couldn’t contain the tears as they flooded his lids.

 

“Hey! He’s cute!” She defended, “At least it’s not Charmander! Everyone’s favorite is Charmander!” She watched as the laughing suddenly stopped and he looked at her with a look similar to her before admitting her favorite. She smirked, “Your favorite is Charmander isn’t it?”

 

The boys head hung low, but he still let out a small bit of laughter. He looked back up to her with a silly grin, making her heart race. “Yeah it is. It really is everyone’s favorite…well, except yours.”

 

The two laughed, finding that they really had a lot in common and that they enjoyed each other’s company. They both smiled in stupid bliss as they worked on their school work. The day had started to awfully, she didn’t expect for it to turn around like this and she was very glad that it did. Instead of making one friend today, she had made two.  

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt for this chapter was “You’re Ben Solo? No way. I refuse.” I hope y’all enjoyed my sweet little fic! Feel free to let me know what you thought and I’ll see y’all next time :)


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